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JAMES ABRAM GARFIELD. 



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A M.EMOP\I^AL /lDDREsS 



DELIVERED AT MANISTEE, SEPT. 2'5, 1881, 



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REPRINTED 
From *' IVTanistee Times, 
OP SEPTEMBER 29, 1S81. 






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James Abram Garfield. 

A MEMORIAL ADDRESS 
Delivered by Gen. B. M. Cutcheon, at Man- 
istee, September 25, 1881. 



A great man has fallen. Great men are the richest 
boon of God to man. 

In all true greatness, there is a spark of essential 
divinity, and poor human nature, which so often 
shames us with its meanness, stands glorified in the 
, light of that greatness. 

We all share in, and partake of, their glory ; and 
.^ because they are men, and we are men, we claim a 
^ brotherhood with them,— a brotherhood in their nobil- 
Y ity, similar to the brotherhood of kinship, 
j^ One truly great life, like that of a Luther, is wordi 
'^Jy millions of common lives, because it has in it the po- 
tency to change and make over millions of common 
lives. 



^3^ .0. . 

The birth or death of a really great man is an epoch, 
because the lives of great men make and change the 
currents of the world's history. 

Towei'ing above the common level of the race like 
great mountain peaks, they shine across the spaces of 
centuries and continents, casting the light of their lives 
upon and into millions of lesser lives, making them 
brighter, nobler, grander, forever and forever. 

Thus, Washington, Lincoln, Garfield, are our 
Washington, our Lincoln, and our Garfield, now and 
evermore. 

Their lives have been a power to lift our lives above 
their narrow bounds ; and there is no soul in any land 
where the light of civilization shines, and where their 
story has been told, that is not lifted up, made nobler 
in purpose, truer to justice and liberty, and stronger 
for right and patriotism by their noble example. 

So, to-day, we pause in the midst of our busy and 
rushipg lives, to study the lesson of the hour, — the les- 
son of a great, good life. 

We judge greatness not more by the work which 
it achieves, than by the obstacles it overcomes ; and, 
judged by this standard, James Abram Garfield 
was one of the greatest of men. Born to a heritage 
of poverty, obscurity and friendlessness, by his innate 
force, his inherent greatness, he rose through all the 
grades of service and of honor to the highest pinnacle 
of earthly fame ; he filled all lands with his renown, 
and left two continents sincere mourners at his grave. 

In a lowly log cabin, in the forests of northern 
Ohio, less than fifty years ago, he was born. 

His childhood days were spent amidst the petty 
cares and ceaseless struggles of extreme poverty. 



But fate could not keep him down. While as a boy 
he labored at the carpenter's bench, there came to 
him, as to the divine Prophet of Nazareth of old, a 
voice telling him that he was born for nobler things, 
and then he felt within him the stirring or a divine 
impulse to rise up and conquer his kingdom. 

And so he vanquished " those twin jailors of the as- 
piring soul — low birth and iron fortune," making his 
own the motto of the old Roman : "I will find a way 
or make one." 

There is something intensely pathetic in that hard 
struggle of his early days, — most pathetic to some of 
us who have trod with weary feet and aching heart 
the self same road. 

How he beat the wings of his prisoned soul against 
the cruel bars of poverty ! With a widowed mother 
largely dependent upon him, with no resource but his 
own hands wherewith to win his way, he struggled 
heroically against every adverse circumstance, toiling 
at the mechanic's bench, doing duty as janitor of the 
academy, driving upon the tow-path of the canal and 
teaching the district school, until finally he realized his 
dream, achieved a hberal education, and stood full ar- 
mored for life's battle. 

In the desert of poverty he smote the rock of adver- 
sity with the rod of resistless will, and the longed-for 
fountains gushed forth. 

And this is the first lesson of this hour, " That there 
is no impossibility to him that wills." 

Let no aspiring soul be downcast, let no brave 
heart turn back, but when obstacles seem insurmount- 
able, remember James A. Garfield, the brave young 
wood-chopper of the Western Reserve. 



At 17 he was the carpenter boy; at 19 janitor of 
Geauga Academy ; at 20 the school teacher ; at 23 the 
collegian ; at 25 the college graduate ; at 26 Professor 
in Hiram College Institute ; at 28 its President ; at 29 
Senator of the State of Ohio ; at 30 Colonel of Volun- 
teers; at 31 Brigadier General ; at 32 Major General, 
Chief of Stair, and Representative in Congress ; from 
that time on for eighteen consecutive years re-elected 
from the same district, a leader in legislation through- 
out the most momentous years of ^the histor}^ of the 
Republic ; at 45 member of Electoral Commission ; 
at 48 made United States Senator from Ohio ; at 48 
taken up against his protest and nominated and elect- 
ed to the Presidency of fifty millions of free people ; at 
49 inaugurated President, and just two months before 
his fiftieth birth day, he died the victim to the disap- 
pointed selfishness and overweening egotism of a 
worthless vagabond. 

Such are some of the indices of his growth — me- 
chanic, student, teacher, senator, soldier, statesman, 
orator, leader, President ! 

And this growth was not fortuitous, nor out of 
proportion to his merits. " Some men are born great, 
some men achieve greatness." 

Other men have attained to high position without 
deserving it ; but Jajmes A. Garfield accepted no 
position he had not qualified himself to fill, he wore 
no laurels that he had not bravely won. 

In his early years he had laid broad and deep the 
foundations of his character, upon the everlasting rock 
of Cln-istian principles, and upon those principles he 
built the structure of his future life. 

It is impossible to follow him through his varied 



career. Let us rather spend a few moments in study- 
ing himself — his character as he was. 

1ST. He was LOYAI. to his I'RIXCIPI.KS. 

While a young man he identilied himself with the 
minority part}' in politics, and espoused the cause of 
the slave. 

No man could then foresee the revolution which 
was already swiftly approaching, and which converted 
the minority into the triumphant majority. 

When the note of war sounded, he left his seat in 
the Senate, and the certain prospect of political pro- 
motion to offer his life upon the altar of his country, 
to endure hardship and privation, when he might 
have remained at home with ease and honor. 

Again, when the waves of financial heresy were 
sweeping over the land, threatening to bury all sound 
principles beneath the froth of an inflated currency, 
when many of liis own political party bent before the 
storm, and sacrificed their principles for place, he nev- 
er for one instant faltered or pandered ; but as one 
after another deserted the ranks, he stood all the firm- 
er, and his voice rang out above the babel of the hour, 
the adnfitted champion of honest money for honest 
men. 

Standing upon the floor of the house' on the 6th of 
March, 1878, he uttered these memorable words:— 
"This is an issue of such transcendent importance that 
it may render all others obsolete. It is a struggle of 
honor against dishonor ; of law against anarchy ; a 
struggle in which the peace and safety of employer 
and employed, government and people, may be in- 
volved. In such a contest, I care not into what party 
the issue lands me, or in what compan}- it finds me. 



When it comes I shall stand with the men who defend 
the money of the constitution and the faith of the 
country." 

2D. He was a man of profound political in- 
tuitions. 

He was always found upon the right side ; for union 
against anarchy; for war till a safe and honorable 
peace was achieved ; for amnesty when the war was 
ended ; for a sound reconstruction upon the basis of 
lo3'alty ; for national good faith and honesty as against 
repudiation ; for a sound and enduring financial policy, 
and for the just and honorable redemption of every 
promise of the Republic. 

3D. As an orator he was convincing- 

He was a master of English diction, and possessed 
of a knowledge of all matters pertaining to states- 
manship, so varied, so comprehensive and so ready of 
command, that upon whatever topic he spoke, he left 
little to be desired. 

Of commanding presence and voice, the massive- 
ness of his frame well comported with the massiveness 
of his thought. He dealt little in satire or sarcasm, 
and never in personal invective. 

His style was calm, logical, and candid, and he bore 
his hearer along, not by the torrent of his passion, or 
by his personal magnetism, but rather by his power to 
instruct the reason and to convince the judgment. 

If to convince is the end of oratory, he was a con- 
summate orator. 

4TH. He was a sincere lover of liberty and 

EQUALITY. 

Having himself felt the bondage of poverty and 
narrow surroundings, he coveted and demanded the 



largest liberty and the fullest opportunity for the 
strugi^ling people everywhere. His whole soul went 
out in S3'mpathy for the prisoners of Fate who were 
seeking to escape from the prison-house of their low 
estate. " All rights for all," was his battle-cry. 

5Tri. He was a manly man. 

There was nothing small or petty about him. His 
heart was large and warm. While he was an earnest 
antagonist, he w^as at the same time a generous one. 
He struck hard blows, but he never fought with poi- 
soned weapons. He had no personal enemies. He 
was a favorite with mun of all political parties. 

Among the heartiest words of praise spoken of him 
during the hot campaign of iSSo, were those which 
came from his political adversaries. 

6x11. He was a pure and true man. 

Coming into the public service at the beginning of 
*the civil war, he served through all tliose exciting 
times, and during all ihe period of reconstruction and 
reconciliation — years when a vast debt was being cre- 
ated, when thousands of millions of liabilities were 
being incurred, when claims of vast magnitude were 
being pressed against the government. During the 
most of this fime he stood at the head of some of the 
most important committees of Congress, and, with 
opportunities where a corrupt man could have amas- 
sed millions, it is suffijient to say that he lived and died 
a poor man. 

7TH. As A Statesman he was far-seeing. 

He studied every question thoroughly. He con- 
sidered it in all iis relations. 

He did not build for the day ; he built for the 
future years. 



^ 



Whether the question was the preservation of the 
Union, the re-construction and restoration of the 
states, the aboHtion of slavery, the pa3anent of the 
pubilc debt, the building up of industries, or the set- 
tling of a national financial policy, he first exhausted 
the history of the past, he took into his vision the long 
vista of the future, and, guided by the past, he acted 
for the enduring w^elfare of the Republic. 

8th. He was a brave man. 

Not only was he brave upon the battle-field-though 
he abundantly proved that at Chicamauga and else- 
where — but brave in the loftiest and noblest sense — 
brave to do right though it brought him misunder- 
standing and obloquy, as when he defended Milligan 
and Bowles against the assertion of martial law in In- 
diana — brave in accepting the gravest responsibilities, 
as in the Electoral Commission of 1877 — '"^"^ finally, 
brave in the calm and serene self-possession with 
which he confronted the grim messenger of death. 

When all others were panic-stricken, he alone was 
calm. 

When all others despaired, he bade them hope. 

He lay for weary weeks of pain, within the gloomy 
shade of death, without one weak, or shrinking, or 
distrustful word. There is something sublime and 
awe-inspiring in this lofty courage-in the magnificent 
self-poise and self-possession of a soul too great, too 
good, to be afraid to die. 

I thank God for the life of James A. Garfield ! 
And since it was decreed that he should die, I thank 
God for the grand and courageous example of his 
suffering and death. 

Oh, great, tender, brave soul ! Wherever thou art 



to-night, in all God's Universe of worlds, I thank thee 
for the light of thy brave, true life, that has made life 
a better and grander thing to me. 

In the light of thy life, thou hast lifted up before all 
the world, the nobility and grandeur of a true man- 
hood. 

Thou hast exalted and made honorable the home. 
Thou hast taught children to be reverent of age, par- 
ents to be tender to their children, husbands to be 
loyal and faithful, christians to be simple and sincere, 
statesmen to be honest, and men everywhere to be 
brave and true I 

There were those who were inclined to sneer when 
on his inaurruration dav he kissed the white haired 
mother, and the loving and faithful wife. 

But verily, verily, I sa}- unto 3'ou, that wherever 
the gospel of pure homes, loving children, honorable 
marriage, and noble manhood is preached, there this 
loyal and loving act shall be told as a memorial of him. 

He had reached the summit of earthly desire ; he 
stood crowned with the love of millions, "in that fierce 
light which beats upon a throne;" and just: there he 
crowned and sceptered all true womanhood, by shar- 
ing all his honors with venerable mother and that true 
wife who had been his best friend in poverty, in trial, 
in evil as well as in good report. 

But the end was nigh ! From that high meridian 
splendor, the sun of his life rushed down into the 
blackness of the night of death. 

That brave life was to be perfected by suffering. 

Just in the very flush and fulness of life and joy ; 
just as he was laying aside for a little the cares of 
state, to grasp once more the hands of school-day 



- t=q lo ^^ .- 

friends ; so full of hope and manly pride, and thoughts 
of a great mission yet to be fulfilled, he was stricken 
down by the hand of a brainless egotist. 

Day by day, vibrating between the flush of hope 
and chill of fear, we watched the failing life, until we 
saw him go down inio the dark valley of the shadow^ 
of death. 

In that chamber upon the ocean cliff he lay, and 
gazed out over the restless, ceaseless sea — symbol 
at once of time and of eternity. 

There was a strange soothing in its sound, a won- 
drous harmony in its vastness, to his mighty, w'aiting 
soul. 

The darkness came down with weird and solemn 
brooding over land and sea. 

Hushed voices were in the chamber of death. 
The long, hard agony was past. The conscious- 
ness of pain had ceased. 

Visions of his dear, sweet home, and of the loved 
faces in that home, on the far away shores of Erie, 
came back to him. He murmured of the happy days 
gone by. Death came at last in friendly guise. 

The strong-souled, tender-hearted " Crete " of his 
bo3'hood's love, sits beside him, clasping the loved but 
nerveless hand, as he goes down into the shadow of 
the valle}^ 

The sobbing of the boundless Ocean that laves all 
lands, mingles with the sobbing of breaking hearts, 
and great, strong angels bear the royal soul up from 
its frail and out-worn tenement of clay, to the emerald 
shores of never-fading life. 

"The old, old fashion death ! Oh, thank God, all 
who see it, for that older fashion \'et, of immortality." 
Noble soul ! Hail, and farewell ! 



